Perfect Timing: a tratie story

June // Chapter 2

1360 words
Katie Gardener

I groan as I hit my alarm clock and sit up in bed. Still rubbing my eyes and yawning I go to stand up and I slip on something. I yelp as I hit the ground and look around to discover the floor of my cabin is covered in mud.

Hearing the crash, some of my siblings sit up groggily in their beds and slowly giggles fill the room. My sister Miranda carefully climbs down from her bed and helps me up.

"How did this happen?" I try to wipe the mud off of my legs, to no avail.

"Well," she hesitates "I only know two people that have the nerve to do something like this. And we have good reason to believe you're one of their targets."

With that, I storm out of the cabin and slam the door behind me. The noise from the door startles the two campers on my porch and they quickly stand up.

Travis laughs at the angry look on my face and looks down at me, "nice pajamas," he smiles smugly.

I look down at my now mud-splattered shorts and stupid old t-shirt my mom gave me that reads "Why did the gardener quit his job? His celery wasn't high enough" and feel a blush creep onto my face. "Did you do this?" I ask pointing inside my cabin.

"I dunno, did we?" Connor asks mockingly.

"look I don't know what I did to make you guys think I deserve this but you have to fix it. Now." I say, trying hard not to be too harsh.

The boys look at each other and roll their eyes. "If you didn't want to be treated like a stick in the mud, maybe you shouldn't have acted like one" Travis says as he holds his hand out for a high five from Connor.

My jaw drops, I barely know this kid and he thinks he can talk to me that way? I don't think so. "Look I don't know what your deal is, Stoll, but I think rules are there for a reason and it's not my fault you guys are too immature to understand that," I say standing on my toes a bit to glare at him.

"It's capture the flag not some freaking- some freaking..." he trails off, unable to think of the word he's looking for. He looks to his brother for help, but Connor simply shrugs. "Well you get what I'm saying. It's not a big deal, Katie." He stands up straight so I'm not up in his face anymore.

"Maybe not to you, but cabin inspection is right after breakfast and that matters to me," I say, my voice faltering as I get more frustrated with the boys standing in front of me.

Travis leans down to look me in the eye, "well then it sounds like you have work to do," and with that, they're gone.

I stomp my foot and groan in frustration then walk back into my cabin. My siblings all turn to look at me as I sigh. "Everyone keep getting ready for breakfast. I'll walk you guys down in about 15 minutes, then I'll come back and clean this up before cabin inspection."

Travis Stoll

We wait on the porch of cabin 4 for Katie to storm out. I can't wait to see her face when we call her out for being such a- SLAM

Connor and I quickly scramble up as we turn to the girl in front of us and laugh. I look her up and down- not in like a gross way- I just notice she has mud marks all over her legs and flowery pajama shorts. Not to mention, her hair is in a messy braid from sleep and she has flecks of dirt on her face. But instead of mentioning any of those things, I choose to make fun of the glaringly obvious nerdy t-shirt. "Nice pajamas," I smirk at her.

As she looks down at herself embarrassed. She changes the subject and points behind her, into the cabin. "Did you do this?" she asks, glaring.

Connor makes a sarcastic comment as she starts to say "look I don't know what I did to make you guys think I deserve this but you have to fix it. Now." She seems so genuinely surprised by the prank that I almost feel bad for her, almost.

I look at Connor to roll my eyes and I remember how annoying she was about the whole capture the flag thing. "If you didn't want to be treated like a stick in the mud, maybe you shouldn't have acted like one," I say leaning down closer to her after Connor high fives me.

Her mouth opens and she clenches her fist. This is usually when we walk away, but then- to our surprise- she keeps arguing with us. "Look I don't know what your deal is, Stoll, but I think rules are there for a reason and it's not my fault you guys are too immature to understand that," Katie says standing up on her tip toes so she's close enough that I can distinguish between the mud and her freckles. If I wanted to.

"It's capture the flag not some freaking-" I pause, looking at her bright green eyes glaring at me, "some freaking..." no one has ever actually argued back to me after I prank them and I don't really know what to do about it. I look at my brother to finish the comeback and he stares blankly. I stand up straight, away from her face. "Well you get what I'm saying. It's not a big deal, Katie."

"Maybe not to you, but cabin inspection is right after breakfast and that matters to me," she reasons, almost desperately, but I'm still mad at myself for not being able to stand up to her a second ago.

So I lean down and look her in the face for a second time. "Well then it sounds like you have work to do," I say and turn to walk away, immediately regretting being such a jerk.

Katie Gardener

I eat a muffin in record time at breakfast so I can get back to the cabin to clean. As I start to walk in that direction, I get annoyed all over again thinking about this morning. What makes them think they can prank my cabin and get away with it? I'm reporting this to Chiron as soon as I get done cleaning. I don't care if it proves their point I'm so done with- "Travis?" I jump when I open the door and see someone just reaching for the handle from inside the now spotless room.

"oh, uh. hey." he looks down awkwardly.

"did you... did you do this?" I step past him and look around the cabin. I turn to him and he shrugs ever-so-slightly. "I didn't think you actually listened to me."

"well, to be fair," he starts, finally meeting my eyes, "people usually don't make me clean up my pranks, but you stood your ground, and I can respect that" I feel my face heat up as he laughs a little and turns to go, but stops with one foot out the door. "Oh, and Katie?"

"hm?"

"This doesn't mean you win," he smirks and closes the door behind him.

"Win what?" I ask myself aloud as I stand alone staring at the door.

•••

As I walk to the sink to brush my teeth the next morning I have to do a double-take at my reflection. Without thinking twice about who would be able to dye my hair red in the middle of the night, I shout loud enough to wake up most of the quiet camp.
"TRAVIS STOLL"

This is going to be a long summer.

Hello to the two people reading this! hopefully you stick around for the many more chapters to come. I'm still on the fence about the two POVs of the same event so feel free to voice your opinion. Please vote and comment any constructive criticism you have !! :) MWAH